March 5, 2015

John 21:15-17

                  When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

                  Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.”

                  Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Monday and Tuesday we looked at the first two General Rules – Avoid evil and Do good.  These first two rules affect our relationship with others.  Good people of any faith (or no faith) can follow these first two rules.  Today we look at the third rule – the one that sets us apart as the people of God.

John Wesley’s expression of this Rule was “By attending upon all the ordinances of God” – also called spiritual practices or the means of grace, such as:

                  The public worship of God,

                  The ministry of the Word (read or expounded)

                  The Supper of the Lord  (Holy Communion)

                  Family and private prayer

                  Bible study

                  Fasting/abstinence

                  Holy conferencing

Bishop Reuben Job expresses this rule as Stay in love with God.  He encourages us to consistently practice these spiritual disciplines so that they may form and transform us more and more into the persons God created us to be.  Although each of us will “stay in love with God” in different ways, there are some common essentials: gathering with other Christians to worship, a daily prayer time, reading and studying the Bible, and sharing Holy Communion. 

Jesus certainly gave us the example of staying in love with God by the accounts we have in scripture of his withdrawing from the crowds, even from his faithful followers, to spend time alone with God in prayer.  He was found in the temple studying the scriptures as a young boy; and he resisted temptation in the desert by quoting scripture.

We also learn from the teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of John that one of the ways that we stay in love with God is by getting beyond our personal relationship with God, and even beyond our worship and study with other Christians, to “feed lambs” and “take care of sheep” – to provide for the needs of others.  We show that we love God by sharing his love and grace with all God’s children.

As we continue to structure our lives around these practices of God, we will be transformed – and when we are transformed, we will transform the church – and as we transform the church, we will transform the world.

Avoid evil.  Do all the good you can.  And stay in love with God.